Category Archives: Restaurant Reviews

Tre

My wife and I stopped in Tre for their weekend happy hour menu, which is a great deal and runs from 2-7pm.

We started with some cocktails, which were excellent. The espresso martini and aperol spritz were both well made.

We tried five items.

The fried calamari was dry and rubbery. Skip these.

The sautéed broccoli rabe was tasty, but at $13 it was too small of a portion size (this was from the regular menu, not the happy hour menu).

The fried artichokes were great. Nice crisp, good seasoning, tender.

I also liked the linguine al limone. For a discounted happy hour deal, this was a great buy. Lots of garlic though.

We also ordered the chicken milanese from the main menu. This was perfectly crisp, tender inside, pounded thin, and topped with a nice arugula and tomato salad.

Keep an eye out for the operating fee, which is a 4% charge added to your bill. Not sure why they don’t just raise prices instead. On the flip side, they also offer a cash discount.

Would definitely come back to try more stuff. Give this place a shot.

TRE
173 Ludlow Stree
New York, NY 10002

Tacos El Guero

I stopped in this spot with some ebike friends before our Electric Wednesday weekly meet-up. I was blown away by the size and quality for the price. Tacos range from $4.50 to $5.00, but they’re packed with quality ingredients, and the blue corn tortilla sets them off as unique.

I ate six tacos; carnitas, al pastor, grilled pig’s ear, chorizo, tongue and tripe. All were excellent, but I think the carnitas was the best. The shredded pork was thrown back on the plancha to get crisp. So delicious. I can’t wait to go back and try more.

TACOS EL GUERO
48-11 43rd Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11104

Seafire Grill

I hit Seafire Grill with some buddies from high school. While this can technically fit into the steakhouse review format, I decided to keep it quick and easy, since the thrust of the menu here is seafood.

Speaking of seafood, we had a nice selection of raw east and west coast oysters to start, along with grilled calamari and Spanish octopus.

Of course I had steak for my main course. This was a nice 8/10. Rib eye, dry-aged on sight.

Nice seared tuna entree.

The sides were all good. We did creamed spinach, truffle mashed potatoes, and caulilini. For dessert, pecan pie and apple strudel.

They also mix a good martini at the bar.

SEAFIRE GRILL
158 E 48th St.
New York, NY 10017

Roku Nana

Roku Nana is a newly opened sushi and Japanese food joint on Clinton Street. My wife and I came in here to try their sushi, and it was a pretty great deal for the price point.

We started with two rolls; the pink lady and the flamingo.

These were great. I liked the pink lady the best (pink colored roll), and my wife liked the flamingo.

Then, we did their 10-piece premium nigiri dinner, which was $53pp.

It comes with a hand roll as well. The uni was the best, followed by the fatty tuna.

There’s also a speakeasy upstairs serving awesome cocktails.

I would definitely go back again!

ROKU NANA
67 Clinton Street
New York, NY 10002

Mother’s Restaurant

This southern food restaurant is a staple in NOLA. On my last trip to the “Big Easy” I was finally able to try it.

They’re known for their po’ bouys, so I had to try the Famous Ferdi special: a po’ boy packed with baked ham, roast beef, debris and gravy, served dressed.

Absolutely incredible, and I think this was the best bite of the 2025 trip.

The waitress came over and gave us this plate of collared greens, shrimp etouffee and green beans. Someone had ordered it and left, or they made an extra by mistake.

This didn’t look like much, but it was absolutely amazing! Definitely need to come back here next visit.

MOTHER’S RESTAURANT
401 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Hot Benny’s

Not much to say about this little coffee spot near the casino in NOLA, but the coffee was great, the beignets were supposedly better than Cafe Du Monde, and they served an amazing bloody!

HOT BENNY’S
364 Canal St
New Orleans, LA 70130

Gumbo Shop

We stopped into this joint for a quick bite. I tried the special gumbo of the day, which was called the Cajun gumbo. It consisted of chicken, andouille sausage, crawfish and shrimp. It was really tasty!

GUMBO SHOP
630 St Peter
New Orleans, LA 70116

Bratz Y’all

We stumbled upon this little German biergarten while waiting for a pizza joint to open.

We wandered back and found a rooster roaming among the tables.

We stayed for a drink, but wished that we had tried more than just one of the brats.

BRATZ Y’ALL
617-B Piety
New Orleans, LA 70117

Willie’s Chicken Shack

If you spend any amount of time in NOLA, you will come across a Willie’s Chicken Shack. They’re everywhere! And they’re delicious.

We scored some fried chicken late night before passing out for the night. It was worth every greasy, salty, delicious bite.

WILLIE’S CHICKEN SHACK
428 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130

Big Wong

First, check out my Ride & Review HERE:

I’ve been meaning to try this spot for a while, and then recently a friend told me that their rice rolls with homemade crullers inside are great. I had to give them a try.

They were awesome! These had dry shrimp on them, which packed a lot of flavor. We also had the regular roast pork rice rolls. Tough to choose a favorite.

We figured, while we were here, we may as well try some other stuff. The roast pig was a huge portion for $11, and it was incredible.

The roast duck over rice for $8.50 was a pretty good deal, despite the duck being mostly skin and fat (I don’t mind too much).

We also had this heaping bowl of tripe and wonton noodle soup.

The broth lacked flavor, but the insane portion size of noodles, tons of tasty tripe, and I think six wontons made up for that.

Two people over-stuffed for around $55 all-in, with enough leftovers for another full meal for two. Great deal. I will definitely be back here.

BIG WONG
67 Mott St.
New York, NY 10013